Nexus should have Drew speak, and that is IT!!!
I love Drew Barrymore. Is it any coincidence that I've gotten grumpier since I've stopped fawning over her? Time to bring back the reasons why I idolize Drew so Much. I'd love to have some of her positive energy. I think I once did. I'd like to hold it, this time. It's so inspirational how undying and constant her passion is. She is motivated and awesome--in all senses of the word. Today at the conference, things did not turn out as planned. I missed the media and whatnot lecture, (opening), I cut even more sleep out of my schedule, (accumulating a lot of deprived hours over the past while, that desperately need a hardcore revival). And yet, last night, despite the lack of success at Guvernment, was pretty fun, and well worth it by the evening. And today, despite my sleepiness and friction with that Earnest (or whatever-his-name-is) guy, and the total lack of organization--resulting in complete failure of the medium plan--the speakers really provided me with a lot of things I could learn from. I just have to learn how to implement these things. I drew a lot of positive ideas out of this, and I did still have my sceptical defeat-all voice, but I'm learning how to suspend my terminal disbelief and just accept and embrace the positive. I think that this life is far too negative, and it is about damn time to change that.
And now an interview from a very inspirational and beautiful Drew Barrymore (p.s. it took her over 5 years to get back the body she has now, and she wasn't that "bad" to begin with, so... why am I so hard on myself?)
Interview
We participated in a roundtable discussion with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant about their new romantic comedy Music & Lyrics, in theaters on Valentine’s Day. We have shared most of the interview here for your enjoyment.
Hugh, when you watched yourself sing and dance in the finished film, what was your reaction?
HUGH GRANT: “Well, you know I had heard a lot of the singing beforehand, because you work for days and days on the recordings... It’s not how I imagined it. You sing every song about a thousand times, and they take one syllable that you may have gotten vaguely right and they stitch it together with another syllable, literally... and then they put it through the machine 1,600 different ways, tune you, and put what they call ‘slap’ on. I always wanted a lot of slap, which is a sort of ‘echo-y’ effect that makes you sound better. It’s unbelievable. By the time they finish doing that and you learn that they can do it, you actually sing better anyway... you get more relaxed... you think, ‘well, they can fix this.’”
DREW BARRYMORE: “Not to interrupt, but there’s a lot of singing you do a cappella without any computer help and it sounds really good, so you absolutely did get confident and very skilled, and you sound beautiful.”
HUGH: “Well, thank you!”
So do you think you should star in a West End musical for 18 months?
HUGH: “I’m not very good in the theater... I don’t like the theater. I don’t like watching plays, and I don’t like being in them very much, but I have learned to like the sound of my own singing voice.”
Didn’t you train in the theater early in your career?
HUGH: “Yeah, I did... I did a lot of plays, but actually to be really honest with you, I think doing a play is quite fun, I just think watching a play is utter misery. That’s why I could never justify going on acting in the theater, because I just knew these poor bastards who were paying a lot of money, were having a horrible time sitting out there watching. Let’s be honest, one time in fifty it’s actually fun in the theater, and the other 49 times you’re thinking ‘bring on my gin and tonic.’”
Did you have to actually go through singing classes?
HUGH: “Yes I did, for a long time. I was doing piano and singing for probably two months before we started shooting, and while we were shooting I had a little piano in my trailer. I used to do it by myself at night... singing, that is. I would sing long into the night. It’s one of those rare examples where practice does make you better.”
What was it they told you that helped you find your voice?
HUGH: “It’s all confidence. It’s weird... people say ‘just go for it,’ but that’s the hardest thing... you can’t just go for it if you have no confidence. But this strange procedure where they record you and then fiddle with it so it actually sounds good... the more they do that, the more you think ‘I can relax now, because whatever happens I’m going to end up sounding good,’ and then you start to sound good on your own.”
Are you going to show us some of your hot 80’s moves?
HUGH: “Am I going to show them to you now? Yes, that’s why I came here. [laughs] I’m glad you liked them. It was misery for me... I don’t play the piano, I don’t sing, and I definitely don’t dance. They can teach you to sing a bit, the computer can put you in tune, and they can teach you to play the piano, but nothing can make you move like a pop star if you haven’t got it in you. I used to go to these choreography sessions... there was a brilliant choreographer for the film that did all of those numbers. We used to just stand there looking at each other, and he’d put the music on and would say ‘come on just go, do your own thing’ and I kept saying ‘I don’t have a thing... there’s nothing to come out.’ In the end I had to rely heavily on the makeup woman bringing me what looked like a 7-Up bottle but was in fact neat whiskey, and I combined that with some temazepam, which is a very good tranquilizer.”
DREW: “Well, it worked!”
What about the tight pants you had to wear?
HUGH: “Well actually it helped a little bit. When I got into my costume I thought, ‘you’re actually quite sexy!’ Especially with those high heels.”
Drew, you also do your own singing in the film, but in Everyone Says I Love You, you were the only one that didn’t want to sing.
DREW: “That’s because I’ve always been told that I wasn’t allowed to sing, and how horrible it was, so this has been an interesting two years because I got to sing in the Curtis Hanson film [Lucky You] and now in this film so... that was a very pivotal moment for me. I’m not a ‘no’ or ‘can’t do’ person. I’m the sort of person who believes you can do anything you put your mind to. I was just given a little bit more of a chance and some more time and encouragement. Since that moment happened , I thought ‘Oh god, I don’t want to go down like this. I will not be on my death bed thinking ‘would have, should have, could have,’ so it was good incentive for me not to fail. And by the way, you know what? Go ahead and fail... but at least try it, you know?”
And now you’re preserved on the soundtrack...
DREW: “And I’m on the Lucky You soundtrack too! It’s just unbelievable that I went from the ‘shut up’ moment to the... ‘shut up and sing’ moment? I don’t know...” [laughs]
You also play a singer in Lucky You.
DREW: “Yes, I do... I play a sort of ‘off-the-main-strip’ low-rent lounge singer who is from Bakersfield and has dreams of singing, but she’s not very good... but she’s at least out there trying to find her dreams.”
So can we expect a Drew Barrymore solo album?
DREW: “No... probably not. I think a lot of it is really terrible, but at least I faced my fears, which is such an important thing in life.”
You mentioned these two films helped you face one of your fears. What are some of your other fears, in terms of types of movies or roles that you haven’t done yet?
DREW: “Well, instead of talking about it, I want to go out there and do it, because I think when you talk about it, it sort of takes some of the wind out of the passion... but for the next few years I would love to focus definitely on facing fears and doing things I haven’t done before. I think about that a lot, actually. I look forward to scaring the ever-loving crap out of myself for the next two or three years.”
Since the movie is called Music & Lyrics, what are some of your favorite bands?
DREW: “Oh my god, that’s so hard. I love this album from Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins called ‘Rabbit Fur Coat,’ it was the album I listened to most during the making of this movie. I love a lot of stuff... Adam Green, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones... I just love every type of music. I think going back into the 80’s with this movie, there was such a great dichotomy of music happening, whether you were into something like a Joy Division-headspace or a Madonna, Duran Duran-type of headspace... I just love the music that came out of that decade, with the start of MTV, and punk rock turning into alternative, turning into pop, it was such a great time for music. I particularly love a lot of music that came out of that time.”
HUGH: “I’m a fraud and a charlatan in this film because I have no interest in music, I never have. I don’t have any records, I don’t play music, so it’s very difficult for me to tell you my favorite song, I’m sorry.”
Drew, a lot of your movies in the past have had 80’s music in them. Do you have a lot of influence on the music that appears in your films, and do you try to squeeze in some of your favorite music?
DREW: “So much great music came from that time. You can’t help but go back to the 70’s and 80’s... you have literally five different great genres in that space of ten years, so yeah, I think we’ll always go back into that time for many years to come. It’s so joyful, so why not, you know?”
So Hugh, you don’t listen to music, and you don’t like theater or plays...
HUGH: “Yes, I know, I’m a grumpy bastard!”
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
HUGH: “I don’t know... I sit around and moan, I play a bit of golf, I see my friends, read a book. Actually, I watch films.”
What was the funniest scene in the movie for both of you?
HUGH: “I don’t remember any laughs, do you?”
DREW: “I enjoyed when we were singing the song in your little recording studio... that was a fun scene. That was when I remember thinking ‘I’m having a really fun time doing this.’”
HUGH: “Yeah, it came out well, that scene. It’s always the things where you’re making stuff up, where Marc [Lawrence, the director] came up with stuff at the last moment... It’s strange how many of those scenes come out well in the film.”
Could each of you talk about what you liked about working with the other?
HUGH: “Well, Drew was just the perfect person for this. I sat down with Marc and we watched every romantic comedienne working at the moment, and it was quite clear that it had to be Drew. She’s got incredible charm. It was fantastic to work with her... she was perfect for the part, and she was very kind and supporting to an extremely grumpy, difficult to work with actor.”
DREW: “I was excited to work with him because I love all of his movies, and for me, it was like getting to work with someone who is a king, an ace, a genius, and a master in their field, so I was like ‘Sign me up, I’m there! Lucky me!’”
Drew, what did you think about Haley Bennett who played Cora Corman in the movie? She considered you sort of a mentor while working with you.
DREW: “She was very sweet, and she was nice to say that... but we just sat around and girl-talked a lot. She’s very enthusiastic about the process. We just talked about work, comedy, body image, friendships and girl stuff and makeup... I really admired how hard she worked on the film and how much she cared. That’s also why I loved working with Hugh, because I think you should care about what you do.”
This movie comes out strategically on Valentine’s Day. Does anything romantic really happen on Valentine’s Day?
DREW: “Oh dear! Oh my goodness... [with this film] we’re going to make something happen for you very special on Valentine’s Day... I’m gonna go out of my way!”
Can you tell us about your best Valentine’s Day?
DREW: “Uhm, well actually I can think of several moments, but I think I’ll probably keep them to myself, not to play that annoying ‘keep it to myself’ card but, just not to sell out every single moment that happens in life... But I’ve had some pretty darn good ones.”
HUGH: “I take it extremely seriously... If I don’t get a lot of cards and things, I get crabby. I like a lot of attention. Ever since school there was a system where you put things in letterboxes... It was weird because it was an all boy’s school.”
The beginning of the film features a hysterical music video. What was it like filming that?
HUGH GRANT: “You’d think it would be fun, wouldn’t you? It looks like it was fun… but of course, it was torture. It was the very end of the shoot, and we’d all had enough of each other. It’s not easy for me… I’m a man of 46. I’m very ill-cast in the film. I’m not a music enthusiast, I don’t move very naturally or sing very naturally. I don’t exist very naturally. So I found a lot of the pop stuff incredibly difficult. He’d say ‘Now let’s just do some isolation shots where it’s just each member of the band standing by themselves and just freaking out.’ Well, I mean forget it, that’s just not going to happen. That’s why I played the keyboards a lot in it, because I found it a lot easier if I had a prop.”
DREW BARRYMORE: “You got your groove on!”
HUGH: “Really? I found after watching the film that I’ve only got literally one move…”
DREW: “The ‘pop-hip’?”
HUGH: “Yeah, pretty much.” [laughs]
Did you watch any Duran Duran videos for ideas?
HUGH: “I did watch a lot of Duran Duran videos, yeah. I watched them at night to send me to sleep.”
DREW: “I got you a CD book… I made you a whole thing…”
HUGH: “That’s true. Drew was concerned that I had no interest in music so she bought me a LOT of music, which was very kind of her.”
DREW: “Yeah… hundreds of albums… and I put them all into a CD book for him so he could be inspired.”
What were some of the albums in it?
DREW: “Everything… a bit of everything from the Clash, to Joy Division, to Duran Duran, to Pat Benatar… I would just see an album and go ‘Oh! He has to have this Mazzy Star album even though it has nothing to do with the movie, It’s so good!’”
HUGH: “I’m very grateful for them… they look very good on my shelf. Now I look like a human being, because before I only had Godspell.”
Drew, ironically you’ve had songs written about you and inspired by you.
DREW: “I have? I didn’t know that…. Well that’s exciting. What in the heck are the titles?” [laughs]
HUGH: “Why didn’t you give me those songs [in the CD book]?”
You’ve both had the opportunity in your careers to work with some very successful people. Have you ever worked with someone and expected genius, but instead found them to be crazy?
HUGH: “Well, with the exception of Drew and a couple of others, that is very often my reaction in early script meetings with my costars. You think ‘Oh my god, no way… those ideas are just awful!’ I’m sure that’s the same for you, isn’t it Drew?”
DREW: “I’ve worked with a few people who are a little bit nuts and a little bit perfectionist, and very different than what you’d expect from their movies, but I’ve been relatively unscathed, I’m grateful to say.”
HUGH: “You see, my old career in European films, before Four Weddings and a Funeral… there was a level of pretention that was astounding. You’d go into a meeting with a director who had a very good reputation in France and he’d say [in a French accent] ‘In this scene I think it would be interesting if you put your hand in your pocket and you bring out a candle, and it’s lighted.’ And I say ‘What? I’d burn to death!’ And he would say ‘Yes, but it would be fantastique!’ and you think ‘You dick.’ There was a lot of that.”
Hugh, did you think that Marc Lawrence had your voice when writing the script?
HUGH: “Well, I have so many voices… I’m a very versatile actor. But he certainly has one of them… yeah, definitely.”
DREW: “He SO has your voice. When I read this script, he didn’t write it for me… I believe he wrote it for Hugh and some actress, but when I read it I thought ‘This is so brilliantly and clearly written for Hughbert.’ You could just hear him right off the page.”
You called him Hughbert.
DREW: “Sorry, I call him that… It’s probably unsexy, I’m sorry, but I just think it’s so cute.”
HUGH: “A lot of people have called me Hughbert… or Mungo, which is my third name.”
DREW: “Yes… that’s your middle name, right? Hugh-Mungo, get it?” [laughs]
Is it true that each of you had extremely different trailers during filming?
DREW: “Oh my god… absolutely. If you had walked in our trailers, you would see the night and day, the yin and yang of me and Hughbert.”
HUGH: “Yeah, Drew’s is all warmth, and people, and laughter, and candlelight… and there’s fabric lying everywhere… everything is happening, films are being made, magazines are being shot. Mine is a dank, empty cell, with one furious little Englishman sitting in the corner, grinding his teeth to a fine dust. No one has ever gone in there, I don’t think, except for a very timid dresser twice a day.”
You don’t like to decorate your trailer?
HUGH: “No, they’re undecoratable! They’re so vile. You couldn’t sit down and design something more repulsive than the inside of one of those motor homes. And they’re lethal. They have to put stickers on them now that say ‘These walls bleed toxic gas.’ If you’re unfortunate enough to have an afternoon off and you go to sleep in your trailer, you’re very lucky to wake up at all.”
DREW: “It is true… it’s a lot of carbon monoxide being pumped in through your day.”
What keeps you coming back to the romantic comedy genre?
HUGH: “Uhm, inability to do anything else I think… it’s as simple as that. I mean, I have dabbled in other genres, and I’m not terrible… I just always get the feeling like ‘Hey, I’m okay here but someone else could probably do this better.’ It’s not actually romantic comedy I’m crazy to do, but anything where there’s a bit of comedy around, I’m more comfortable, because I feel like I have something to offer, rather than being deadly serious.”
DREW: “Although you can be.”
HUGH: “Yeah, well you see in real life, on the set I’m nightmarishly serious, angry and sulky. Poor Drew.”
DREW: “You’re lovely.”
Is it true Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mother taught you how to play the piano?
HUGH: “Yes she did, briefly, but then I had a tantrum and gave it up.”
What kind of teacher was she?
HUGH: “She was very nice… it was nothing to do with her. I remember it distinctly… I had to sit on three London telephone directories to be able to reach the keyboard. We did it for a month or two. I wish passionately I had gone on with it… I really wish I had.”
DREW: “How very posh. You should’ve seen my musical teacher… he ate salmon and smoked cigarettes, and was just like, totally gross.”
HUGH: “Is that how you’ve turned out to be so musical?”
DREW: “Yeah right, exactly… see? Andrew Lloyd Webber [points at Hugh]… Weird salmon smoking guy [points at self, laughs]”
HUGH: “I’ll tell you something I remember about Andrew Lloyd Webber actually… It was something his mother was always keen on, which was ‘Just go for it… just play,’ and I kept saying, ‘Well, I don’t know how to play yet,’ and she would always play very loud. I went to a dinner party a couple of years ago in London, and Andrew Lloyd Webber was there. After dinner he played, and it was deafening. I’ve never known a man hit the keys harder in my life. People ran screaming into the night with their ears bleeding. Very nice chap, but too loud.”
What about the concert scene, where you had to play in front of all of those people?
HUGH: “That I did learn. Look, I took it very seriously… I had an incredible bunch of people around me, teaching me. I was taught to play the piano for a few of these pieces, especially that last one. Yes, I can play, and when you see my fingers on the keys, they are correct… if you were a pianist you would know that.”
DREW: “And if you were Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mother, you’d be saying ‘Harder.’”
HUGH: “Yes, but that’s a whole different story.”
And now an interview from a very inspirational and beautiful Drew Barrymore (p.s. it took her over 5 years to get back the body she has now, and she wasn't that "bad" to begin with, so... why am I so hard on myself?)
Interview
We participated in a roundtable discussion with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant about their new romantic comedy Music & Lyrics, in theaters on Valentine’s Day. We have shared most of the interview here for your enjoyment.
Hugh, when you watched yourself sing and dance in the finished film, what was your reaction?
HUGH GRANT: “Well, you know I had heard a lot of the singing beforehand, because you work for days and days on the recordings... It’s not how I imagined it. You sing every song about a thousand times, and they take one syllable that you may have gotten vaguely right and they stitch it together with another syllable, literally... and then they put it through the machine 1,600 different ways, tune you, and put what they call ‘slap’ on. I always wanted a lot of slap, which is a sort of ‘echo-y’ effect that makes you sound better. It’s unbelievable. By the time they finish doing that and you learn that they can do it, you actually sing better anyway... you get more relaxed... you think, ‘well, they can fix this.’”
DREW BARRYMORE: “Not to interrupt, but there’s a lot of singing you do a cappella without any computer help and it sounds really good, so you absolutely did get confident and very skilled, and you sound beautiful.”
HUGH: “Well, thank you!”
So do you think you should star in a West End musical for 18 months?
HUGH: “I’m not very good in the theater... I don’t like the theater. I don’t like watching plays, and I don’t like being in them very much, but I have learned to like the sound of my own singing voice.”
Didn’t you train in the theater early in your career?
HUGH: “Yeah, I did... I did a lot of plays, but actually to be really honest with you, I think doing a play is quite fun, I just think watching a play is utter misery. That’s why I could never justify going on acting in the theater, because I just knew these poor bastards who were paying a lot of money, were having a horrible time sitting out there watching. Let’s be honest, one time in fifty it’s actually fun in the theater, and the other 49 times you’re thinking ‘bring on my gin and tonic.’”
Did you have to actually go through singing classes?
HUGH: “Yes I did, for a long time. I was doing piano and singing for probably two months before we started shooting, and while we were shooting I had a little piano in my trailer. I used to do it by myself at night... singing, that is. I would sing long into the night. It’s one of those rare examples where practice does make you better.”
What was it they told you that helped you find your voice?
HUGH: “It’s all confidence. It’s weird... people say ‘just go for it,’ but that’s the hardest thing... you can’t just go for it if you have no confidence. But this strange procedure where they record you and then fiddle with it so it actually sounds good... the more they do that, the more you think ‘I can relax now, because whatever happens I’m going to end up sounding good,’ and then you start to sound good on your own.”
Are you going to show us some of your hot 80’s moves?
HUGH: “Am I going to show them to you now? Yes, that’s why I came here. [laughs] I’m glad you liked them. It was misery for me... I don’t play the piano, I don’t sing, and I definitely don’t dance. They can teach you to sing a bit, the computer can put you in tune, and they can teach you to play the piano, but nothing can make you move like a pop star if you haven’t got it in you. I used to go to these choreography sessions... there was a brilliant choreographer for the film that did all of those numbers. We used to just stand there looking at each other, and he’d put the music on and would say ‘come on just go, do your own thing’ and I kept saying ‘I don’t have a thing... there’s nothing to come out.’ In the end I had to rely heavily on the makeup woman bringing me what looked like a 7-Up bottle but was in fact neat whiskey, and I combined that with some temazepam, which is a very good tranquilizer.”
DREW: “Well, it worked!”
What about the tight pants you had to wear?
HUGH: “Well actually it helped a little bit. When I got into my costume I thought, ‘you’re actually quite sexy!’ Especially with those high heels.”
Drew, you also do your own singing in the film, but in Everyone Says I Love You, you were the only one that didn’t want to sing.
DREW: “That’s because I’ve always been told that I wasn’t allowed to sing, and how horrible it was, so this has been an interesting two years because I got to sing in the Curtis Hanson film [Lucky You] and now in this film so... that was a very pivotal moment for me. I’m not a ‘no’ or ‘can’t do’ person. I’m the sort of person who believes you can do anything you put your mind to. I was just given a little bit more of a chance and some more time and encouragement. Since that moment happened , I thought ‘Oh god, I don’t want to go down like this. I will not be on my death bed thinking ‘would have, should have, could have,’ so it was good incentive for me not to fail. And by the way, you know what? Go ahead and fail... but at least try it, you know?”
And now you’re preserved on the soundtrack...
DREW: “And I’m on the Lucky You soundtrack too! It’s just unbelievable that I went from the ‘shut up’ moment to the... ‘shut up and sing’ moment? I don’t know...” [laughs]
You also play a singer in Lucky You.
DREW: “Yes, I do... I play a sort of ‘off-the-main-strip’ low-rent lounge singer who is from Bakersfield and has dreams of singing, but she’s not very good... but she’s at least out there trying to find her dreams.”
So can we expect a Drew Barrymore solo album?
DREW: “No... probably not. I think a lot of it is really terrible, but at least I faced my fears, which is such an important thing in life.”
You mentioned these two films helped you face one of your fears. What are some of your other fears, in terms of types of movies or roles that you haven’t done yet?
DREW: “Well, instead of talking about it, I want to go out there and do it, because I think when you talk about it, it sort of takes some of the wind out of the passion... but for the next few years I would love to focus definitely on facing fears and doing things I haven’t done before. I think about that a lot, actually. I look forward to scaring the ever-loving crap out of myself for the next two or three years.”
Since the movie is called Music & Lyrics, what are some of your favorite bands?
DREW: “Oh my god, that’s so hard. I love this album from Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins called ‘Rabbit Fur Coat,’ it was the album I listened to most during the making of this movie. I love a lot of stuff... Adam Green, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones... I just love every type of music. I think going back into the 80’s with this movie, there was such a great dichotomy of music happening, whether you were into something like a Joy Division-headspace or a Madonna, Duran Duran-type of headspace... I just love the music that came out of that decade, with the start of MTV, and punk rock turning into alternative, turning into pop, it was such a great time for music. I particularly love a lot of music that came out of that time.”
HUGH: “I’m a fraud and a charlatan in this film because I have no interest in music, I never have. I don’t have any records, I don’t play music, so it’s very difficult for me to tell you my favorite song, I’m sorry.”
Drew, a lot of your movies in the past have had 80’s music in them. Do you have a lot of influence on the music that appears in your films, and do you try to squeeze in some of your favorite music?
DREW: “So much great music came from that time. You can’t help but go back to the 70’s and 80’s... you have literally five different great genres in that space of ten years, so yeah, I think we’ll always go back into that time for many years to come. It’s so joyful, so why not, you know?”
So Hugh, you don’t listen to music, and you don’t like theater or plays...
HUGH: “Yes, I know, I’m a grumpy bastard!”
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
HUGH: “I don’t know... I sit around and moan, I play a bit of golf, I see my friends, read a book. Actually, I watch films.”
What was the funniest scene in the movie for both of you?
HUGH: “I don’t remember any laughs, do you?”
DREW: “I enjoyed when we were singing the song in your little recording studio... that was a fun scene. That was when I remember thinking ‘I’m having a really fun time doing this.’”
HUGH: “Yeah, it came out well, that scene. It’s always the things where you’re making stuff up, where Marc [Lawrence, the director] came up with stuff at the last moment... It’s strange how many of those scenes come out well in the film.”
Could each of you talk about what you liked about working with the other?
HUGH: “Well, Drew was just the perfect person for this. I sat down with Marc and we watched every romantic comedienne working at the moment, and it was quite clear that it had to be Drew. She’s got incredible charm. It was fantastic to work with her... she was perfect for the part, and she was very kind and supporting to an extremely grumpy, difficult to work with actor.”
DREW: “I was excited to work with him because I love all of his movies, and for me, it was like getting to work with someone who is a king, an ace, a genius, and a master in their field, so I was like ‘Sign me up, I’m there! Lucky me!’”
Drew, what did you think about Haley Bennett who played Cora Corman in the movie? She considered you sort of a mentor while working with you.
DREW: “She was very sweet, and she was nice to say that... but we just sat around and girl-talked a lot. She’s very enthusiastic about the process. We just talked about work, comedy, body image, friendships and girl stuff and makeup... I really admired how hard she worked on the film and how much she cared. That’s also why I loved working with Hugh, because I think you should care about what you do.”
This movie comes out strategically on Valentine’s Day. Does anything romantic really happen on Valentine’s Day?
DREW: “Oh dear! Oh my goodness... [with this film] we’re going to make something happen for you very special on Valentine’s Day... I’m gonna go out of my way!”
Can you tell us about your best Valentine’s Day?
DREW: “Uhm, well actually I can think of several moments, but I think I’ll probably keep them to myself, not to play that annoying ‘keep it to myself’ card but, just not to sell out every single moment that happens in life... But I’ve had some pretty darn good ones.”
HUGH: “I take it extremely seriously... If I don’t get a lot of cards and things, I get crabby. I like a lot of attention. Ever since school there was a system where you put things in letterboxes... It was weird because it was an all boy’s school.”
The beginning of the film features a hysterical music video. What was it like filming that?
HUGH GRANT: “You’d think it would be fun, wouldn’t you? It looks like it was fun… but of course, it was torture. It was the very end of the shoot, and we’d all had enough of each other. It’s not easy for me… I’m a man of 46. I’m very ill-cast in the film. I’m not a music enthusiast, I don’t move very naturally or sing very naturally. I don’t exist very naturally. So I found a lot of the pop stuff incredibly difficult. He’d say ‘Now let’s just do some isolation shots where it’s just each member of the band standing by themselves and just freaking out.’ Well, I mean forget it, that’s just not going to happen. That’s why I played the keyboards a lot in it, because I found it a lot easier if I had a prop.”
DREW BARRYMORE: “You got your groove on!”
HUGH: “Really? I found after watching the film that I’ve only got literally one move…”
DREW: “The ‘pop-hip’?”
HUGH: “Yeah, pretty much.” [laughs]
Did you watch any Duran Duran videos for ideas?
HUGH: “I did watch a lot of Duran Duran videos, yeah. I watched them at night to send me to sleep.”
DREW: “I got you a CD book… I made you a whole thing…”
HUGH: “That’s true. Drew was concerned that I had no interest in music so she bought me a LOT of music, which was very kind of her.”
DREW: “Yeah… hundreds of albums… and I put them all into a CD book for him so he could be inspired.”
What were some of the albums in it?
DREW: “Everything… a bit of everything from the Clash, to Joy Division, to Duran Duran, to Pat Benatar… I would just see an album and go ‘Oh! He has to have this Mazzy Star album even though it has nothing to do with the movie, It’s so good!’”
HUGH: “I’m very grateful for them… they look very good on my shelf. Now I look like a human being, because before I only had Godspell.”
Drew, ironically you’ve had songs written about you and inspired by you.
DREW: “I have? I didn’t know that…. Well that’s exciting. What in the heck are the titles?” [laughs]
HUGH: “Why didn’t you give me those songs [in the CD book]?”
You’ve both had the opportunity in your careers to work with some very successful people. Have you ever worked with someone and expected genius, but instead found them to be crazy?
HUGH: “Well, with the exception of Drew and a couple of others, that is very often my reaction in early script meetings with my costars. You think ‘Oh my god, no way… those ideas are just awful!’ I’m sure that’s the same for you, isn’t it Drew?”
DREW: “I’ve worked with a few people who are a little bit nuts and a little bit perfectionist, and very different than what you’d expect from their movies, but I’ve been relatively unscathed, I’m grateful to say.”
HUGH: “You see, my old career in European films, before Four Weddings and a Funeral… there was a level of pretention that was astounding. You’d go into a meeting with a director who had a very good reputation in France and he’d say [in a French accent] ‘In this scene I think it would be interesting if you put your hand in your pocket and you bring out a candle, and it’s lighted.’ And I say ‘What? I’d burn to death!’ And he would say ‘Yes, but it would be fantastique!’ and you think ‘You dick.’ There was a lot of that.”
Hugh, did you think that Marc Lawrence had your voice when writing the script?
HUGH: “Well, I have so many voices… I’m a very versatile actor. But he certainly has one of them… yeah, definitely.”
DREW: “He SO has your voice. When I read this script, he didn’t write it for me… I believe he wrote it for Hugh and some actress, but when I read it I thought ‘This is so brilliantly and clearly written for Hughbert.’ You could just hear him right off the page.”
You called him Hughbert.
DREW: “Sorry, I call him that… It’s probably unsexy, I’m sorry, but I just think it’s so cute.”
HUGH: “A lot of people have called me Hughbert… or Mungo, which is my third name.”
DREW: “Yes… that’s your middle name, right? Hugh-Mungo, get it?” [laughs]
Is it true that each of you had extremely different trailers during filming?
DREW: “Oh my god… absolutely. If you had walked in our trailers, you would see the night and day, the yin and yang of me and Hughbert.”
HUGH: “Yeah, Drew’s is all warmth, and people, and laughter, and candlelight… and there’s fabric lying everywhere… everything is happening, films are being made, magazines are being shot. Mine is a dank, empty cell, with one furious little Englishman sitting in the corner, grinding his teeth to a fine dust. No one has ever gone in there, I don’t think, except for a very timid dresser twice a day.”
You don’t like to decorate your trailer?
HUGH: “No, they’re undecoratable! They’re so vile. You couldn’t sit down and design something more repulsive than the inside of one of those motor homes. And they’re lethal. They have to put stickers on them now that say ‘These walls bleed toxic gas.’ If you’re unfortunate enough to have an afternoon off and you go to sleep in your trailer, you’re very lucky to wake up at all.”
DREW: “It is true… it’s a lot of carbon monoxide being pumped in through your day.”
What keeps you coming back to the romantic comedy genre?
HUGH: “Uhm, inability to do anything else I think… it’s as simple as that. I mean, I have dabbled in other genres, and I’m not terrible… I just always get the feeling like ‘Hey, I’m okay here but someone else could probably do this better.’ It’s not actually romantic comedy I’m crazy to do, but anything where there’s a bit of comedy around, I’m more comfortable, because I feel like I have something to offer, rather than being deadly serious.”
DREW: “Although you can be.”
HUGH: “Yeah, well you see in real life, on the set I’m nightmarishly serious, angry and sulky. Poor Drew.”
DREW: “You’re lovely.”
Is it true Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mother taught you how to play the piano?
HUGH: “Yes she did, briefly, but then I had a tantrum and gave it up.”
What kind of teacher was she?
HUGH: “She was very nice… it was nothing to do with her. I remember it distinctly… I had to sit on three London telephone directories to be able to reach the keyboard. We did it for a month or two. I wish passionately I had gone on with it… I really wish I had.”
DREW: “How very posh. You should’ve seen my musical teacher… he ate salmon and smoked cigarettes, and was just like, totally gross.”
HUGH: “Is that how you’ve turned out to be so musical?”
DREW: “Yeah right, exactly… see? Andrew Lloyd Webber [points at Hugh]… Weird salmon smoking guy [points at self, laughs]”
HUGH: “I’ll tell you something I remember about Andrew Lloyd Webber actually… It was something his mother was always keen on, which was ‘Just go for it… just play,’ and I kept saying, ‘Well, I don’t know how to play yet,’ and she would always play very loud. I went to a dinner party a couple of years ago in London, and Andrew Lloyd Webber was there. After dinner he played, and it was deafening. I’ve never known a man hit the keys harder in my life. People ran screaming into the night with their ears bleeding. Very nice chap, but too loud.”
What about the concert scene, where you had to play in front of all of those people?
HUGH: “That I did learn. Look, I took it very seriously… I had an incredible bunch of people around me, teaching me. I was taught to play the piano for a few of these pieces, especially that last one. Yes, I can play, and when you see my fingers on the keys, they are correct… if you were a pianist you would know that.”
DREW: “And if you were Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mother, you’d be saying ‘Harder.’”
HUGH: “Yes, but that’s a whole different story.”